In My Heart
by medea-adar
Summary: Kira Price's parents and family were murdered 8 years ago by a group of vengeful Death Eaters. Unfortunately for her, one of them happens to work at Hogwarts as the notorius Potions Master. How long will she be able to keep this secret?
1. Chapter 1 :The Past

_Chapter 1: The Past._

"_No!" A woman's voice could be heard screaming throughout the night._

_Death Eaters ran through the house, dragging every member of the family to the main room, cursing and binding them along the way._

_At the end of the hall on the ground floor, a little girl woke with a start and ran towards the screams. As she peeked her head out from behind the doorframe, she stood shocked as she looked upon her bound and crying mother._

"_Mother!" she gasped._

_Her mother's bloodshot eyes darted up with fear and spotted her daughter in the hallway._

"_Run Kira! ... hide before they come back!" her mother whispered hoarsely._

_Footsteps and the sounds of frantic struggle could be heard coming down the stair way. The little girl's head snapped around and she bolted to the nearest hiding place, a cabinet at the back of the room, and she shook violently as she climbed in._

"_Oh Merlin, no…please spare us!" her aunt cried as she clung to her husband._

_One of the Death Eaters laughed and flicked his wand, binding her and sending her flying into the air._

"_Crucio!" he hissed. He laughed again as the woman writhed and screamed, twisting her body in agony._

"_Stop!" the girl heard a male voice yell. It was her father. "Why are you doing this?!" _

"_Your time as an Auror, Mr. Price, has caused much turmoil in our circles. You and your friends have sent many of our colleagues to the death in Azkaban, my brother is dead because of you!" one said coldly, it was a woman._

_To this, Mr. Price growled, "And you and __your__ friends have spent many years shedding the blood of innocents both wizard and muggle alike , all the while hiding behind your precious master!" he spat at the ground, "Cowards!"_

"_Hector, stop!" the little girl's mother exclaimed._

"_All of their deaths were in the name of our Lord and rightly justified by our cause! It is time that you and your family come to understand the resonance of our power!"_

"_YOU HAVE NO POWER! Your 'Dark Lord' has been dead for six years now! Your kind is disappearing and your power has run out!" Mr. Price cried._

"_NO! The Dark Lord will never be gone!" the woman cried. "And we will continue to serve his cause as long as people like you exist in the world!"_

_All of the Death Eaters then raised their wands and sent all of the girl's family into the air, hovering in place._

"_You shall now learn just how cruel we can be…" the masked woman hissed. _

"_Viror Crutius!" one of the Death Eaters proclaimed. A white light whipped through the air and across Hector's chest. Blood gushed from the newly formed wound as he cried out and the musty smell of iron filled the room._

"_Viror Crutius!" another yelled, this time at the uncle. The little girl watch in horror from the shelter of her cabinet as the light whipped across his shoulder and closed her eyes once she saw that his arm was now completely detached. A sickening splash as it met the ground in a puddle._

_The Death Eaters were relentless and showed no mercy as they cast curse after curse, spell after spell, and did not stop until their victims drew their last breath._

_The little girl has long since closed her eyes and cried silently, chocking each time a splash was and tried in vain to close her ears to the screams._

_Suddenly, it was quiet. One of the masked men was still shouting curses._

"_Enough!" another said. "They're dead. Crabbe, run out and cast the mark, the rest of us will sweep the area for any sign of the ministry."_

_With that they left the room and the little girl crawled carefully out of the cabinet. She crept quietly to the door and looked out. It was clear. Letting out her breath, she stepped back and felt something strange and wet engulf her feet. When she looked down, all she could do is stand rigid in shock…it was __**blood**__, there was blood…everywhere. _

_The girl turned around, tears falling freely from her eyes, and let out a hoarse cry. There was her mother…, her father, her aunt and uncle just hanging in the air like limp ragdolls. They were barely recognizable and hung twisted in the air, eyes bulging, and their faces still fresh with pain._

_The girl began to walk slowly through the crimson water towards them, choking as she tried to breathe with each sob._

"_Mother!" she whispered, looking up. Her mother's once rich, brown hair was now soaked black and clung to her skin, her once bright blue eyes now dull and lifeless._

"_Mom, Dad…" she sobbed reaching up for them. Her hands were in the air, when she suddenly felt pain across her back and before she realized what had happened, she was falling to the ground._

"_I THOUGHT YOU SAID THAT ALL OF YOU HAD GOTTEN EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE!" someone screamed, it was the woman._

"_I thought I did!" another yelled. "But it's no matter now, she's dead."_

"_I'm drowning…" the little girl thought as she was lying in the vast puddle of blood, the musty smelling liquid was started to fill in her nostrils. Her eyes were starting to droop but quickly snapped open as she heard a deep voice bellow, the sound of it was deafening._

_One of the Death Eaters was at the door motioning to the others._

"_GET OUT, WE MUST GO! The ministry is here!" _

_The two remaining Death Eaters ran past him in an attempt to both get out the door. In the midst of the struggle, the one who had warned them was knocked back against the wall, and his mask fell from his face…_

_The little girl shifted her eyes to him and breathed slowly as she looked at his face. The last thing that she remembered of the night was the sight of his pale face etched with fury, his cold black eyes like pools of darkness and the sound of his robes as they billowed against the wind as he turned and faded into the night. _


	2. Chapter 2: The Present

Disclaimer: Kira Price is mine, but the rest is J.K. Rowling's.

Chapter 2: The Present

It was a cold and rainy Wednesday morning, and all throughout the grounds of Hogwarts it was silent. The only sounds that could be heard were the quiet padding of a pair of shoes across the stone hallway, the low humming of their owner, and the soft grating of her fingertips dragging across the bricks as she walked.

As she treaded down the main hall, Kira Price stopped short at the entrance way and her eyes drifted down to her reflection in a puddle before the door.

Kira's hair had always been a dull, mousy brown. She sighed while she looked over her short and skinny form, and stared at her thin, pale face and tired, grey eyes.

"Like the moon…" her mother used to say.

It had been so long since her parents had died.

She was now in her fourth year and the sadness still lingered in her wake even as she smiled out to the rain. It was so funny, and so strange to her how she had managed to keep it hidden for so long.

At the beginning of her first year, she remembered walking into the Great Hall and feeling a wave of awe wash over her as she looked up at the enchanted ceiling and down around the tables. But as soon as that feeling had started, it stopped. Her eyes were locked on the long table positioned at the front of the hall. Kira had stood frozen as a chill hit her from the top of her head down to the tips of her toes.

There he was! The Aurors had never figured out who he was or any of the other Death Eaters for that matter, yet _there he was. _Right at Hogwarts. A strange feeling came over her when she remembered that after her account of that night, one of the Aurors had told her that it was "the face of a monster". The monster was there in front of her and noone else seemed to notice.

She snapped out of it the moment that her name was called and stiffly walked up to the stool. She flinched slightly when McGonagall had placed the hat on her head.

"_Well hello Ms. Price."_ The hat whispered in her ear, "_Your life here comes with a rather heavy burden, wouldn't you say?"_

She said nothing.

"_Yes…you have a pure heart…underlying courage. But you are stuck at a crossroads, unsure of where to go…you are very confusing Ms. Price, eventually you will have to choose. You will have to choose between the path of redemption, and the path of revenge…but for now…, HUFFLEPUFF!"_

The table cheered loudly to welcome their newest member.

"_Do what is right in you heart…"_ it had whispered before being whisked off her head.

As she sat down at the table, a few of the students had introduced themselves, but quickly grew quiet as the next first year was sorted. Kira had kept her eyes down, and from that point on she had never once looked him in the face again.

After school had officially started, she did not sleep for three days in fear of her first Potions class. Day after day had lagged on and she almost had a nervous breakdown by the third day and was shaking so badly that Susan Bones had to escort her to the Hospital Wing to get a Calming Draught. And finally, the morning came and she shuffled down to the dungeons with the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws and awaited the moment when she would have to face him.

Class started and she had sunk low in her desk when he burst in and a larged lump formed in her throat when he began to call roll.

Then her name…

"Price, Kira." he said without hesitance.

"Here!" she squeaked.

"Rice, Patrick."

He had said nothing, he did nothing. Perhaps didn't remember or maybe he just didn't know, he wasn't in the room at the time she was shot down.

But never the less, Kira kept her mouth shut. If he did not speak or even if he didn't know, she would not utter a word, and that continued on until now.

Well, there's Chapter 2! I hope you like it so far, plz R&R!...please.


	3. Chapter 3: A New Book

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I am not richer than the Queen of England and I do not own Harry Potter like JKR, so I am stuck with Kira, Alexander and thier sad predicaments as my only worldy possesions.**

* * *

Chapter 3: A New Book 

Stepping back from the entrance way, Kira turned and trudged back towards the Great Hall. Her stomach twisted and growled in complaint at the hovering smell of freshly made biscuits and pan-fried bacon drifting out into the castle halls.

She straightened her overly- large robes so that they didn't seem quite so lopsided and headed to the Hufflepuff table. She adjusted them, fussing over her long sleeves as she sat down and began to pile food onto her plate.

"Good Morning!"

One of the girls, Lilac Jones, besides her passed her a napkin.

"G' morning, Lilac." Kira said quietly between mouthfuls. "What's the news for today?"

Lilac had always been a big gossiper, but she was quite useful when the right information made it to her ears. She didn't really have much to say today except for a few juicy tidbits on the newest couples in the neighboring houses.

"Well I heard that Harry Potter just recently had a run-in with Umbridge over You- Know- Who and got himself landed in detention." A girl named Anne Coutler spoke up, her honey colored hair swept over her shoulder as she sniffed in a rather haughty manner.

"Detention, already?" Lilac lit up, "It's only been a week since classes started!"

A fifth year across from them, Susan Bones, interjected, "Yah, I heard that also, I've also heard a particularly nasty rumor that Umbridge uses Blood Quills."

Lilac gasped while Anne simply rolled her eyes, "Apparently he and Umbridge got into a row about how the ministry is lying about the return of You-Know-Who, it's a whole lot o' rubbish if you ask me."

"My Aunt works for the ministry and she believes it, she and my family are behind Professor Dumbledore all they way."

Anne and Lilac made no response to this.

Kira had stopped listening to them somewhere in the middle of the conversation and was currently in thought. She had never really thought about this deeply before even thought the thought of it had been scratching at the back of her mind for sometime now.

"_It is possible that he has returned,"_ She thought. "_But then why hasn't he done anything?"_

Kira had dropped her fork and was now simply staring blankly into her plate. Now that it had occurred, a disturbing thought came back into to her mind.

"_If Voldemort has returned, then does that mean that Professor Snape has gone back to being a Death Eater? Have they all gone back?"_

Kira continued on this until the students began filing out of the hall swiftly hurrying to their morning classes. Abandoning her thoughts, she swooped up her bag and followed a group up to the Transfiguration classroom where she hurried in to take her seat in the second row and sat down listening attentively.

"Today we will be learning a defensive spell that is often used in the subject of Transfiguration that allows a person to transfigure a object of whatever value into one that is seen as common or useless in order to hide it. For example, if you had something of value to you and did not wish others to see it or for it to be stolen, you might transfigure it with this spell into something common, like a clock or a spoon."

Professor McGonagall walked swiftly over to a golden goblet on her desk.

"Observe." Then with a flick of her wand, she uttered, "Obscuro!"

The goblet began to shrink and turned in to a old, worn sock.

"And then to change it back," With another flick of her wand, "Ilobscuro!" and the ugly sock changed back into a goblet.

"Each of you has an object on your desks. I want you to attempt the first spell and then the second. You may begin"

At that, the class erupted into a cacophony of murmurs. Some of the students began to get irritated, jabbing their objects forcefully with their wands and flicking them violently with no avail. A good number in the very front and around Kira had managed the spell quite gracefully and were now changing their objects back. Sadly, she herself had never been very talented in any subjects and now stared dismally at the decorated piece of parchment in front of her.

Finally Kira flicked her wand and muttered the spell, but strangely, the piece of paper just curled up and erupted into flames. A few girls began to giggle as Professor McGonagall walked over and sniffed at her charred object.

"How on earth did you manage that?" she said.

Kira could feel the blood begin to gather at her cheeks as she opened her mouth to speak, but then McGonagall sighed and flicked her wand once more and replaced the parchment with a gold coin.

"Well no matter, try again and with a little more clarity this time, Ms. Price."

Kira eventually was able to perform both spells with no problems but not without having to endure the embarrassment of being the last in her class to achieve this and the seemingly endless laughing of the group of girls, (That she had figured to be in both Ravenclaw and her house) who had now decided to make her their new victim leaving poor little Norris Borgin, another Hufflepuff, to his devices.

Looking back on the things that they had done to Norris, Kira had an awful feeling that this was only the beginning. She had dealt with this before in her own house during her first year, her unusual interest in the Dark Arts and Ancient Magic did not fare well with the others and the fact that she looked so unbearably awkward had not helped either.

"_At least I've grown out of my knobbly knees…"_ She thought hopefully, "_They'll lose interest in me eventually."_

Professor McGonagall dismissed them for the day, but not without promptly assigning them with usual load of a three foot essay and practice; there would be a quiz on what they had learned the next day. Kira rushed out the door and down to the second corridor to Charms where she quickly ran through her schedule in her head: Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, Divination and Astronomy, and last but not least, Potions. Hopefully she would not mess up too badly in **that **class today.

Charms and DADA had gone by as quickly as they could and Kira was loaded down with more homework such as another essay on "The Practical Uses of Levitation" and a summary of chapter three in their Defense Against The Dark Arts class which wasn't all that bad, seeing as they didn't really do that much in class except read.

Finally lunch came around and Kira was able to run to the library with Lilac after getting a quick bite to eat where they quickly began searching for books on defensive transfiguration.

"This is a whole lot harder than I thought it would be!" Lilac exasperated, slamming a large book entitled _"The Trifles and Toils of Transfiguration, by C.C. Oldebee_" down on the table causing one of Kira's stacks to fall over. "There's hardly anything on defensive transfiguration!"

"Shhh!!" Madame Pince scolded.

"Old bat…" Lilac muttered under her breath.

"I found a few, but there's not much inside them." Kira whispered handing Lilac a few books, "I'll go look for some others."

"Good luck with that."

Kira looked through shelves and shelves of books, and eventually she ended up in the back section of the library where she almost immediately spotted a very old and very heavy book accurately christened, _"Defensive Magic and Spells". _The subject that she was looking for had to be in that book. Kira gripped the spine of the book with both hands and tried to pull it out, but the book seemed to be stuck in the shelf. She hoisted one foot up against the shelf and tugged the book with all her might and it slid free in a cloud of dust.

"Ha!" she whispered silently to herself. "I bet McGonagall was just waiting for someone to find you!"

With the big book entrapped in her arms, Kira was about to walk back to the table when a small glimmering inside the hole that the book had left in shelf, caught her attention. She moved in closer reached inside and felt something narrow and dusty.

"_A book?"_ she thought and pulled it out into the open.

The thing was terribly old, the spine was cracking and the engraved title had long since faded leaving only little traces of gold where the letters had been. The pages were yellowed and cracked, and some were barely hanging on. On the very first page, there was written in spidery calligraphy, "_Spirites in Time, The Magik of Olde"_. Kira's eye's widened in amazement at her new discovery as she flipped carefully through the pages. There were elaborate illustrations of conjurations and elemental magic, there were chapters after chapters on ancient magic that had been forgotten. She had only heard of these things because of the vast amount of strange books that her great aunt kept at the house, but they only gave definitions, this book had spells and instructions and… just everything!

Kira closed her new book in excitement and began to walk back when a dreary thought came across her mind.

"_Would Madame Pince really allow something like this to be checked out? Most of this is bordering Dark magic…it actually looks like it has been hidden back there for quite some time... better not risk it.." _With this, she quickly walked over to the table and shoved the narrow book into her bag, hoping that no one had noticed.

"Where have you been? It took long enough, did you find anything?" Lilac asked.

"Yes." Kira smiled, "As a matter of fact, I did…"

Lilac and she laughed together in their triumph over the heavy book that Kira had pulled from the shelf and hastily copied down every bit of information that they could find on defensive transfiguration and parted ways to make it to afternoon classes.

Kira sat on her pouf in the Divination classroom in the tower and waited for class to begin with the others. There were a few of every House in this class and Kira found herself next to a pale, dark haired Slytherin with icy eyes and sharp features, his face came alive when Professor Treawnley floated in all misty and covered in shawls.

The Professor looked around the classroom and spoke in a wavering voice, "Today we will be looking into the mystic dimensions of the future. Turn your gaze to the crystal balls that sit between you and look into them, write what you see and explain any symbols that may be there."

Everyone began sighing or muttering about different things, turning towards their crystal balls and writing whatever nonsense that may have popped into their mind. The Professor floated from table to table giving a shake of her head here and an "Oooh, my dear!" there, looking sadly at one student or another. Kira turned to hers and stared blankly into the glass, seeing nothing and she couldn't think of anything to write that wouldn't seem too stupid, so she sat in boredom as thoughts from the earlier parts of the mornning came sneaking back into view...

"_I wonder how long I will have to keep this a secret... I mean it's not like I can go back to the ministry with it, it's been eight years... would they believe me? Would Professor Dumbledore let him teach here if he knew that he was a Death Eater?_" Kira turned to the Crystal orb once more looking deeply into the glass, "_Is it possible that he may have changed?...That he's different now?_" As her eyes comtinued to look into the transcluent mass, a small dark cloud began to form in the center of it. Kira froze as she watch the cloud grow, getting larger and larger until a small bit of light shined through it, and then the image disappeared all together.

"Strange isn't it?" Kira looked up to see the dark haired Slytherin looking at her. "What people think that they can see in a crystal ball?"

"What do you see?" Kira responded quietly.

"A growing flame."

He began to write quickly on a piece of parchment.Kira stared after him for a moment and soon did the same. Soon, the foreboding voice of the professor drifted through the room.

"Now I want to talk to you all of the future in the skies, lift your eyes and look..." She continued droning on about the symbols in the skies and the many signs of imminent death. Pretty soon all of her words faded into nonsensical mutterings that murmered constantly in the back of Kira's mind as she slipped out her newly found book and began reading it behind the table. She stopped at that illustration of a circle lined with runes and read the script beneath it:

"_Call forthe the powers binded to the mind and thrust them outward withe the soul. Withe this power thou shall be entitled to all designs of magik that showest itself in thy wake. Snap thy wand and use thy heart, thy blood, and thy mind to perform all conjurations_..."

"What are you reading?" the Slytherin whispered leaning over, "That's a symbol of conjuration!"

"I know.." Kira replied, eyeing him warily. "It's a book I found in the library.."

The boy narrowed his eyes at her, "That's borberline Dark Magic , you know."

She leaned toward him and whispered fearfully, "Yes, I know... it was hidden, I slipped it out. Please don't tell!"

"Why would I do that?"

"I don't know...you never know what people will do...I just find really interesting, i've never been able to find one that actually gave instruction on ancient magic."

"Instruction?" He leaned over took take a look, but Kira pulled back eyeing him suspiciously.They stared at each other.

"What are you intentions? I don't mean to stereotype you, but I don't want to show this to anyone who has bad intentions for it."

He opened his mouth but then closed and looked at her for a moment before speaking, "What could I say for you to trust me? Would you believe me?" He frowned darkly at her.

Suddenly the signal sounded for the end of class and Kira quickly got up to go, but then stopped and gave him a small smile, "No, I don't think I would believe you, but you could always try and show me...what's your name?"

His expression lightened and he said, "Alexander,- Alexander Vardon.What's yours?"

"Kira Price...I'll see you tomorrow Alex, and maybe you'll get to see my book." she grinned and turned to leave.

Kira's smile began to fade as she walked slowly down to the dungeons, all of her abandoned thoughts from earlier were coming back to her at full force, knocking her brain around and giving her quite a headache. She hadn't had the chance to drop of her library books at her dorm, so she had been forced to take them with her. The large and heavy Defense text was causing her arms to ache and her spine to curve into an awkward posture causing her to walk even slower. She swore that the stairs had changed three times before she made it down to the ground floor and even then, she had quite a ways to go. By the time she made to the classroom door, Kira was so jumbled up in her thoughts that it took her a while to notice a long pair of blacks shoes on the ground in front of her. Shifting herself under the weight of the book in an ever weirder posture than before, she looked up into nothing but darkness.

"_Uh-oh.._" she thought.

"You're late." it hissed staring down at her.

Kira swallowed and said nothing, you did not talk back to Professor Snape.

"Ten points from Hufflepuff." he said pointing towards the classroom, "In."

She nodded walked as fast as she could to a dark space near the wall on the second row and set all of her things down with some difficulty. When she sat down and began to set up the Professor spoke:

"Today you will be brewing a rather difficult potion called 'The Spirit's Breath', it is normally substituted as it requires the use of blood from the brewer, but no other potion gives the full effect that it can. If on hand at the time and administered within minutes, this potion can prolong the life of whomever it is given too. You are to follow the instrutions exactly, even the slightest of mistakes can ruin it." Then he flicked his wand to the board in front of the classroom where the instructions appeared, "Begin."

Kira looked up at the board in disbelief, she had never seen a more complex potion! She sighed deeply and got quickly to work, gathering up all of the ingredients and adding them one by one in the proper order until her concotion turned a pale shade of lilac as the directions predicted.

"_Good, now all that's left is...the ounce of blood, boomslang, aaaaand belladona..._" She looked down ready to prick her thumb when she saw that Norris Borgin was about to add Devil's Root instead of the Bruskin bile. She grabbed his wrist in a swift movement, trying to get it away from the simmering cauldron.

"No! Norris, wait!" she yelled. Too late. The cauldron began to hiss,i t bubble and splashed on to Norris, making him break out into painful boils. It finally bean to shake violenty knocking the entire bag of Boomslang skin into Kira's cauldron.

"Oh no..." she whispered.

"Thirty points from Hufflepuff! You're worse that Longbottom, Borgin!" Snape bellowed walking briskly over to Norris's now overflowing cauldron, turning his back to Kira's. Norris was whimpering while the Professor charmed his cauldron and sent him to the Hospital wing.

"Get out!" Snape yelled. The cauldron behind him was knocking and splashing around feverently and began to build. Kira threw herself at the Professor knocking him over.

"MOVE!" She screamed, getting in front of him. Suddenly, right as the potion exploded, a bubble-like barrier formed around her and the cauldron. The other students watched in terror, untouched, as the boiling liquid showered the back of Kira's robes burning like acid. Kira opened her eyes and gave a yelp as she ripped off her outer robe and watched it incinerate into the puddle where black flames burst forth and ate everything into ruin including the cauldron.

"_At least I remembered to move my things farther away before I started._" she thought gloomily

The classroom was silent for a moment, and all eyes were on Kira as she looked over the ashes. The signal for the end of class sounded and the others began filing out muttering behind her:

"Look at her back!"

Her back. The acidic stuff had burned some of the fabric off the back of her shirt. All of them could see the ugly and twisted scar that stretched across her back. It was an after effect of the curse that was thrown at her the night of her parents death. It had grown deep and had a sickly reddish-purple color to it.

"What happened to her arms?!"

She had forgotted about her burn scars too, among others that marred her forearms and she turned them protectively against herself in an effort to hide them. Soon the only ones left in the room were Kira, Professor Snape, and Norris.

"Are you alright Kira?" Norris asked hesitantly.

"Yes Norris, i'm fine."

"But you were drowned in that potion! Hey what 're you doin'?"

Kira spotted something in the mess an moved forward to pick it up. It was the page from her ancient book that she had read, right where her cauldron had been, the large symbol stained in purple liquid stared garishly back at her as she held it up in front of her.

"...Conjuration!..." she said out loud to herself.

"What?"

"Con-" she cut herself off at the sight of Professor Snape staring down at her with an unreadable expression.

"You may go." he said. Norris shuffled forward and Kira made a move but was stopped by a voice. "Not you."

Norris glanced warily back at her before moving out.

"Give that to me." he said extending his arm out with an open hand. Kira lifted her arm and set the paper in it but then froze at the sight before her. The Dark Mark...vivid as ever...it really was him. It jerked out of sight and she darted her eyes up to him. His expression was twisted into a horrible mixture of fury and fear together and he moved ba"ck a step holding his arm to his chest. Kira stood glued into place, feeling pathetically small as she put her skinny arms down by her side and looked at the floor. The silence was deafening.

_"What do I do?...What can I say...what do you say to the person who helped kill your family_?" She started shaking a bit as the thoughts from Divination came back to her..."_Is it possible that he may have changed?...That he's different now?_", "_Should I run and tell or face him on my own...just about the mark?..._" Kira was about to scream in fustration and fear when she remembered what that stupid hat had told her..."_Do what is right in your heart..._".

Kira lifted her pale moon eyes and looked into his. She pressed her lips together and then finally broke the silence.

"It's okay, ..really...I-I already knew," she faltered. "I just wasn't sure...no one else does, though...well, except for the hat..."

"_Great. Now I'm babbling_" she thought. He was staring at her now with a curious expression.

"The hat?" he said cautiously.

"Y-yes, the sorting hat. I've known since my first year, but I never said anything be-" Kira stopped at the sound of footsteps outside the door.

"Hem hem..." A sickly sweet little voice uttered coming in. "Professor Snape, I don't mean to interupt but I have some matters to discuss with you." Umbridge looked over at Kira, her fussy little cardigan puffing out as she spoke. "You may go dear. I wish to speak to Professor Snape in private."

Kira's eyes widened as she looked from Umbridge to Snape. He simply stood there expressionless before he finally said, "Go."

"Yes sir." she whispered gathering her things as she ran out the door to her dorm, she could feel his eyes burning into her back the entire way there.

* * *

**Well there's chapter three! I hoped you liked it.. R&R plz, ibegyou, plz.**


	4. Chapter 4: Chalk and Circles

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Thank you for all the recent reviews, I know that it's a liitle slow but I had to explain some things through the story before all the adventure could start. Again, thank you!**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Chalk and Circles**

"_Oh no, oh no, oh no!" _Kira thought panicking, _"I should have never done anything! I shouldn't have said anything!"_

Kira dropped her books and stopped in a random corridor and slid down against the wall. The light from the window across from where she sat, gave off a slight sheen from the grey, hazy sky outside. The scar on her back was throbbing.

Kira sighed in exasperation, _"Stupid, stupid, STUPID!"_ she thought as she slammed her head back against the wall several times. Soon after several berating thoughts, she gathered herself together and got up to stare out of the window.

"What do I do now?" she whispered, fogging up the glass.

"_Nothing…"_ a little voice in her head said.

"Nothing?"

"_Nothing…leave it as it was...if he doesn't say anything, then there is no need for you to do so…"_

Kira eventually picked up her things once again and set off for the Hufflepuff common room. She mumbled the password and entered, trudged up to her dorm, and passed out on her bed. By the time she woke, it was ten minutes into dinner and all of the other girls had already gone down to the Great Hall, leaving Kira to walk by herself. Her stomach twisted and her brain throbbed at the thought of having Professor Snape staring down at her once more for the long staff table.

Kira could still feel his eyes on her as she slipped on a new shirt and robe; for a few minutes, she had just considered not going until her stomach gave an audible growl. So she went down the stairs, climbed through the portrait hole, and made her way towards the Great Hall.

When she entered the Hall, she could feel several people staring at her but ignored it as she sat down at a random space at the table. Kira knew for a fact from the prickling on the back of her neck, that Professor Snape was definitely looking at her.

"_Don't look at him, don't look at him, don't look at him…" _She repeated in her head, while gathering food onto her plate. She began to eat slowly, which eventually led to her shoveling it into her mouth in hunger, and picked up her glass of pumpkin juice and gulped it down. Before she finished, she noticed a few of the girls from the group in McGonagall's class watching her intently. Realization dawned on her and she quickly put the glass back down and stared at her food.

"_I hope they didn't poison it…"_ she thought, getting up to leave the table. _"I can only wait to find out…now, where would someone go to read an illegal book in private…the Library!, in the back of course, no one ever goes back there and it's not like reading a book is suspicious." _Kira grinned to herself and pulled the narrow book out of her robes.

The library was eerily lit with candles and there were only a few people here and there wondering through the shelves or sitting down. Kira picked up two candles and brought them to the back table in a dark corner of the vast room where she blew off the dust from the aged wood and sat down. She ran her fingers down the spine of the book, letting graze over the grooves of the faded embossed letters recalling what she had read earlier that day. It cracked slightly as she opened it and began to read:

"_Magik existes in all formes, not wicked nor true. Thou must call it withe the heart and take it withe the soul, it bears firstly in a ring."_

"_A ring?...oh-a circle!"_ Kira thought and looked down to the small illustration of a simple circle.

"_Writ withe stone, the ring holdes the oldest and strongest of powers when conjured, it is the ground for moste conjures of contract and protection. The runes of time state its purpose and are writ round the outer partes of the ring. Withe these letters, thou shall be learned of all magik of olde._

_Yet heed thy warning once more: Magik existes in all formes, not wicked, nor true."_

The next few pages began in rigorous instruction with such tiny handwriting that she had to squint very hard to decipher it, the two candles were simply not enough light. Kira turned and pointed her wand at a far away candle and levitated back to her table where she set it behind her so the light could shine on the book.

"That's better." she said to herself.

The script was clearer now and started with what looked like the first step: _"Call forthe the magik of olde ."_ It began with the drawing of a circle that was "writ with stone" and required the person to stand in the middle of the circle, without any of the runes.

"_Close thine eyes and reach outwards withe thine heart and it shall come to you. Feel it upon you and open thy soul to drink it in and capture it. Open thine eyes and thou shall see a gl—"_

"You should cover that up with something before Madame Pince comes back here." Kira gave a slight jump and looked over to see the Slytherin from earlier that day, Alexander.

"What brings you back here?" Kira smiled slightly.

"You're at my table."

They looked at each other for a moment before Kira spoke, "Would you mind I sat here a little longer?"

Alex simply walked over and sat in the seat across from her and began to read. Taking this as a "no", Kira turned to get a larger book off of the shelf, opened it and placed the ancient one inside of it like a jacket and continued to read again:

"_Close thine eyes and reach outwards withe thine heart and it shall come to you. Feel it upon you and open thy soul to drink it in and capture it. Open thine eyes and thou shall see a glow emanate all around you and fade. Once you have captured thy magik, thou shall release it with every conjuration. Be wise in thy choice, a drop of blood holds more magik than the greatest wand."_

"_I bet whoever wrote this did not care to elaborate anymore on certain things, what does it mean, 'writ withe stone', and how do you 'reach outwards withe the heart'?" _Kira sighed in thought and looked over at her new company, who was reading, "_Seeds and Saps: A Guide to Carnivorous Blossoms by Witherew Jenkins.__"_

"Herbology homework? Or are you reading it for fun?" she asked him.

Alex looked up and pressed the book to his chest, leaning forward as he sneered with his eyes closed, "I like plants."

"I do, too." Kira said simply. He looked slightly taken back with this and put his book back down, sinking into his chair.

"Do you think you could help me?" Kira said, "There's a lot in this book that I don't really understand and you seemed interested before."

"What if I _bad intentions_?" he asked softly.

"To tell you the truth, I don't really know if you do or not, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't give you a chance."

"Well I have more important things to worry about than old, nasty books." He sneered again, but it slowly formed into a smile as he said, "What does it say?"

"I thought so." Kira grinned and leaned over to look at the book with him.

Kira had a strange feeling come over her the moment they began talk. It was like an immediate connection had formed between them, she had never met anyone that she could really get along with before. The two of them seemed to fit together like puzzle pieces, he was flamboyant, expressive, and passionate whereas Kira was quiet and shy. They read and talked quietly to each other until Madame Pince came stalking about, kicking out any stragglers that had stayed past nine o' clock, and spelling all the books back to their places.

Kira and Alex walked out of the library without a word and paused to look at each other before parting ways.

"Well… thank you… for helping me out." Kira said awkwardly. "Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yes, in Divination, we will be predicting each others futures tomorrow." Alexander said.

"Be creative, I don't want to die a boring death."

"I'll make it bloody and magnificent."

"Good. Well…good night then, Alex." she said and began to walk away down the hall.

"You know," Kira stopped as Alex spoke, "chalk is made from stone. Maybe you would be able draw a ring with that."

Kira's eyes lit up in realization.

"That's right! Maybe we'll be able to find some in one of the old class rooms, but," she said yawning, "let's leave that for tomorrow."

"Alright then, good night, Kira" Alex said walking away.

Kira walked briskly back to her dorm; thoughts of chalk and circles buzzing through her head as she climbed through the portrait and up to her bed where she collapsed, fully clothed, onto her bed.

"_I wonder what will happen tomorrow?...I will have to go and look for chalk…aaand oh no!, I forgot about my transfiguration essay! Oh well, I'll just have to finish it in the morning…and potions…what will I do_?..._what can I do?..."_ the thoughts echoed in her Kira's head as she fell into a cacophony of strange dreams…

_She was running. She was dashing through the forest so fast that her chest was burning and her heart was beating dangerously fast against her ribs. There were shadows falling quickly behind her feet like billowing curtains of darkness, swallowing everything into nothingness. A bright Harvest moon was hanging low in the sky, its red glow bleeding into the dark sky and shining onto the ground where her feet splashed through the mud and cleared the vast roots rising up on the forest floor. _

_Suddenly, Kira stopped abruptly as a hooded figure appeared in front of her in a clearing, blocking her way out. The vague light shined over it and she narrowed her eyes, looking onto the figure's face making out a pair of dark eyes and a strangely familiar face: Professor Snape._

_She backed up and found herself surrounded by darkness with no where to go while the stars glittered brightly in the sky , and looked down to see that she was standing in the center of a circle made with what looked like…blood._

"_What is this? Where am I?" _

_It was deathly quiet._

"_Hello?" Kira called out into the night. "Professor?...Any one!"_

"_What's going on?" she said shakily to herself. Voices could be heard in the distance and grew louder as they drew closer. They were singing a chant of some sort, gathering around her. Kira turned to see the Professor step forward, the hood still hiding his face._

"_Professor? What's happening?" she cried._

_The chanting grew even louder, drowning her cries while she watched as the Professor threw back his hood and moved his lips with no sound in an incomprehensible language. _

"_Stop! Stop it, what's happening?!"_

_The darkness surrounded the professor and sucked him in, twisting and distorting his body, growing larger and larger, as his screams filled the night. His hands turned to spindling claws and his face had been transformed into something completely unrecognizable. It was silent once again except for the ragged breathing of this new creature._

"_P-Professor?" she said. There was no answer. _

_The…thing stayed stationary. Its creeping silhouette towered over her in the moonlight, moving up and down slowly as it breathed heavily._

"_W-Who are you?" Kira breathed. "Show yourself…"_

_It stepped forward into the moonlight and she shrunk back in horror as she looked upon its face. Its monstrous features were pulled back into a spine chilling grin and its eyes and teeth gleamed with a sticky crimson. _

_All she could do is scream. It moved closer and closer until she couldn't see anything but red…_

Kira shot up in bed, getting tangled in the sheets while she looked frantically around the room. She was drenched in sweat and her skin was blazing but she shivered in the night; a sickening feeling was creeping up the back of her throat and she wavered slightly as she stood up.

"_A dream, it was only a nightmare." _She breathed heavily while walking slowly to the door. "_Damn it, I think I'm going to be sick."_

She was on her way to the bathroom when she stopped and turned towards the portrait, "_The food…those girls put something in the food! Why would I get sick from_ _a dream?"_

She climbed out of the portrait and landed on the floor in a heap.

"_Hospital wing. I need to get to the hospital wing…now, which way?"_

Kira staggered down the hall and took the moving stairs down to the second corridor and swept swiftly down a narrow passageway that cut through the walls to a narrow flight of steps that descended to a corner in the far right depths of the ground floor. She padded softly in the direction of the wing trying hard to keep her balance.

"That is not a matter that I wish to discuss here, Severus…" A soft voice echoed off the walls in almost a whisper. Kira froze at the corner, unsure of what to do.

"I'm aware of that Headmaster, but he has been pressing for information lately, information that I don't have. He's planning something and I need to know about this before he decides to put it into action."

Kira's eyes darted from side to side, looking for an escape, "_Professor Snape and the Headmaster? What are they doing down here?"_

"It will all reveal itself in due time and all I can do is ask for your patience." Professor Dumbledore answered calmly.

Professor Snape replied to this with great resentment in his voice, "If you are aware of how the Dark Lord operates, then you must know that I do not have long before he questions me personally."

Kira's eye's widened with shock and her knees began to shake.

"I know my job, Dumbledore, but I need cooperation from both sides in order to stay alive."

"I know, Severus, I know." The two of them had stopped walking. "Being a spy is not easy, but I must tie some loose ends on my own plans before I divulge anymore information to you. If it didn't endanger you anymore so than you are already, then I would have told you. I have my reasons, and I need you to trust me."

"_A spy? He's a spy for Dumbledore! Is that why he's working here?"_ Kira thought.

Her silent raving came to a halt when she heard them moving closer to her corner. She thought about turning around, but didn't trust the thought of going through the night with some unidentified poison in her veins, so she decided to continue on to the Hospital wing.

"_Maybe they won't notice." _She walked forward awkwardly to get across the intersecting joint towards the next section of the corridor; it seemed so far away. "_Please don't notice."_

But all her hope of going unnoticed ceased when she started across and ran straight into none other than Professor Snape. Kira cringed and looked up to his emotionless face.

"Miss Price…" he said softly. She swallowed hard and prepared for whatever punishment he would bestow upon her.

"It is quite some time after curfew, young lady." Dumbledore spoke.

"Y-Yes, I know, sir." Kira replied walking into the torch light. Beads of sweat were now pouring down her forehead and she felt herself falling against the wall to stay up in the air from being so dizzy. The Headmaster's expression had now turned to one of curiosity and the Professor was still as emotionless as ever.

"May I ask why you are wondering about the castle at this time of night?"

"Hospital Wing…I need to get to Madame Pomfrey…" Kira gasped. "I think…I think I've been poisoned…" She staggered forward between them and tried her best to continue down the hall, but quickly lost her balance and fell straight to her knees on the hard, stone floor. She let out a small groan and a sigh, making a new effort to get back on her feet.

"Well then, I think it's best if you come with us," Professor Dumbledore said bending down to grab her arm. "The Professor and I were just on our way there also, you see."

"Oh…alright then…" Kira was hoisted up and began to walk a bit unsteadily between them down the long hall. They were walking for what seemed like forever in silence, until Kira began to getting a strange prickling sensation on the back of her neck, sending chills up her spine.

"_Blood and stone…"_

Kira stopped suddenly and looked around. A sharp draft blew through the corridor towards her making the light of the torches waver slightly in its wake.

"Are you alright, Miss Price?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes…it just felt like someone was watching…" she said turning around.

"I see…" he said looking at her with an unreadable expression.

She continued to look over her shoulder periodically as they made it up a small flight of steps and entered the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey came bustling out of her office as soon as Kira stepped in.

"Albus?" she called. "How-" The nurse stopped when her eyed rested on Kira. "Is there a problem, dear?"

"Ah, Poppy," Albus interrupted. "I believe this young lady is sick, Severus and I found her in the hall on the way here."

"Very well, then. Go sit on one of the beds and I will be with you in a minute." Madame Pomfrey said, ushering Kira towards the beds.

Kira shuffled over to a bed in front of a large window. A flash of light cut through the sky and the rain was beating hard on the window, whispering things in an unknown rhythm against the glass. She hadn't noticed that it was storming until now. She sat down on the bed and continued to watch the raindrops slide down and disappear at the windowsill.

"I really wish you would be more careful, Albus." She heard Madame Pomfrey mutter. "All this adventure could do you in eventually!"

"I am forever aware of this, Poppy." he responded calmly.

Kira was now staring at them over her shoulder and watching Madame Pomfrey wipe some sort of salve all over the Headmaster's arm. Her gaze lifted up to Professor Snape, and her eyes looked over him as if she were sizing him up. Suddenly, his averted upwards and locked into her gaze, boring into her face; the image of her dying mother screaming in pain flashed before her eyes and the dazed memory of the blood strewn room passed through her memory. The Dark Mark from Snape's arm was coming up when Kira panicked and looked away.

"Alright, dear," Madame Pomfrey was right besides Kira making her jump with surprise when she spoke. "just change into these clothes and I'll have a look at you."

The nurse jerked the curtain around and Kira slipped off her robes, careful to keep the book in place, and put on the pair of pajama pants. She was beginning to get droopy-eyed with sleep as she slipped the shirt over herself when she heard a yelp.

"By Merlin, girl! What did you do to your back?!" Madame Pomfrey jerked the curtain open and pulled up the back of Kira's shirt, revealing the ugly scar on her backside. Kira struggled to pull it back down, but Madame Pomfrey's grip held firm. Over her shoulder she could see that the two Professors had turned around in surprise upon exiting, to see what had happened.

"Is everything alright Poppy?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Snape was looming behind him.

"Well it's no wonder you're sick! What did you do, bathe in acid?!" the Madame cried to Kira.

"Partly…" Kira squeaked.

"This is no time for cheek, young lady" Madame Pomfrey had leaned in closer. "I've never seen anything like this before!"

The older woman touched the scar and ran her fingers across it. Before Kira realized what was going on, the scar had constricted, painfully twisting her skin inward, causing several streams of blood to come pouring out of it and down her back. Her eyes began to sting and she let out a small cry.

"What kind of magic is this? Albus! Come see!"

"No please…it's not that bad…" Kira started, but no one was listening. She took this as an opportunity to pull her shirt back down and turned around, preparing for the nurse's next attack.

Madame Pomfrey was rushing to get some bandages and an assortment of oddly colored jars while Dumbledore and Snape ambled over to Kira's station and stood in front of her waiting patiently.

"Stop that! You're getting blood all over the back of your shirt!" Madame Pomfrey threw all of her new things on the bed and proceeded to spin Kira back around and wrestle her shirt back up. "Now just stay put. Albus, look!"

There was a moment of silence and Kira could hear the Professor's soft footsteps come closer and stop in Madame Pomfrey's stead. Looking behind her, Kira could see the reflection of the entire scene in a mirror close by: Madame Pomfrey was standing on the left looking as perplexed as ever, Dumbledore was slightly bent over looking closely at her scar, and last but not least, Professor Snape was staring at it over him with a calculating look.

"It appears to be an old wound…one that has never actually healed, am I right Kira?"

It took her a moment to register that he was speaking to her and she finally replied: "Yes…"

"How did this happen, Miss Price?" They had let Kira pull her shirt back down again and were all staring at her as she turned around to face them.

She looked down at some nondescript spot on the floor and cracked her fingers nervously, "Um…I…I don't really remember. It happened a long time ago."

Dumbledore looked down at her through his half moon spectacles and looked at her directly in the eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course." Kira eyed him warily.

With this Professor Dumbledore stepped back a little and turned to Madame Pomfrey, "That scar was obviously inflicted by Dark Magic, but I have no idea what the curse it is exactly; though I think that Severus may know."

"That's fine, but that doesn't explain the other damage, it looks like someone took a jar of extra-strength cauldron cleaner and rubbed it all over her back!"

"That's from a potions accident that happened earlier today…" Kira said.

"Well then why didn't you come to the Hospital Wing?! And why didn't you send her here directly?!" Madame Pomfrey was now looking pointedly at Professor Snape.

"He couldn't…" they were all looking at Kira now as she spoke, "well, I mean Professor Umbridge came in and sent me out-" Madame Pomfrey gave an audible huff at this.

"And I didn't come here because I got…" Kira looked up and met Professor Snape's eyes, "distracted." She looked back down at the floor again and twisted her fingers.

Kira zoned out and sat on the bed for what seemed like an hour. She could hear the Professors speaking in the background to Madame Pomfrey and the occasional burst of thunder, and finally she was allowed to lie down on her stomach when the Professors left. As the night went on, Kira eventually fell asleep and did not awaken until 11:00 the next morning.

* * *

**There's the fourth chapter, it can only get better after this! Please read and review, Please! **


End file.
